Page 4 of The Heat is On
Romeo leaned forward, his hands folded on the table. “If you’re talking about the great circle of fire you created, nah. Your torch just malfunctioned. That wasn’t on you.”
“Riley had to rescue me.”
“That’s what teammates are for.”
She eyed Romeo. “I froze—”
“You nearly pulled a Joan of Arc.”
“I just… I don’t want everyone thinking I need a babysitter.”
Romeo held up his hands. “No one here is babysitting you.”
She shoved her glass away. “Do you know how rare it is for a woman to make a smokejumping team?”
Romeo nodded. Folded his hands over his chest. “We had bets—”
“On whether I’d make it?”
“I had twenty on your success.”
“Really?”
“Yep. The odds against you were pretty good. I made a pile.”
She narrowed her eyes and he grinned.
“C’mon. We’re getting out of here.” He got up and motioned to Riley. “Think we should rescue Larke?”
Skye put down a twenty on the table, then glanced at Riley, a giggling Larke. “No. Larke can take care of herself.” Anyone who grew up in Alaska, served as an army medic, and knew how to fly a bush plane could probably handle Riley’s charms. Besides, despite his penchant for breaking hearts and his bad boy smile, Riley had a good soul. He knew whatnomeant when he heard it. She’d heard that firsthand from a few of the gals down at the Ember Hotline Saloon and Grill back home.
Still, watching Riley lean over and whisper something into Larke’s ear stirred an unfamiliar longing inside her, despite her line in the sand.
Oh brother. She shook it off and headed outside with her team.
Tucker was sitting on the back of a pickup with the brunette from the bar. Interesting. He got up when he spotted the team leaving.
Skye glanced at the woman. Pretty, and she was looking at Skye, too, a little frown on her face.
Skye climbed into the van from Sky King ranch and leaned back in her bench seat as Tucker slid into the driver’s seat. They headed back to the ranch.
The hot, red evening sun hovered over the jutted rim of the Denali range, casting twilight-hued fingers through the black pine and across the tiny platinum lake that edged the ranch property—a main lodge, an airplane hangar, a garage, vacation rentals, and a few other outbuildings. A Piper Cub seaplane floated at the dock, bobbing with the ripples from the mountain winds.
The ranch encompassed an entire valley rimmed by forest, and on the far southwestern edge, a balding, granite ridge that acted as a wall to the state park to the north. A homestead cabin sat at the far western end of the lake, nestled under the shadow of the ridge.
On the eastern shore of the lake, a cluster of rental cabins housed the team, and as they got out of the van, Tucker headed down to his digs.
Skye followed a few of the guys to the massive deck that rimmed the ranch lodge, a beautiful log and timber building, and sat down on one of the Adirondack chairs.
The entire valley smelled of pine and wildflowers and the finest hint of remaining smoke from the faraway mountain fire.
A motorcycle pulled up and wouldn’t you know it, Riley and Larke had returned. They cut down the rutted dirt road that led along the lake and out to the homestead cabin at the far end.
That Riley.
Yeah, the last thing Skye would let herself do was fall for a bad boy like Riley. No thank you.
“The problem with Alaskan sunsets in summer is that we don’t have them.”